Croatan's Cranmer an all-around basketball player

BROAD CREEK – Croatan senior basketball player Kyle Cranmer knew going into the season that this was his time to be a leader.

Chris Miller-Prep Sports Writer/The Daily News

BROAD CREEK – Croatan senior basketball player Kyle Cranmer knew going into the season that this was his time to be a leader.

It was a daunting task for the two-year varsity player given Croatan had been loaded with reliable and athletic standout players the previous two years with the likes of Ashley Williams and Aaron Williams two years ago and Jacques Chambers and Austin Saunders last year leading the Cougars.

But those players are gone, opening the door for Cranmer to step up. And Cranmer said he wasn’t nervous about filling in those leadership roles held by those former standouts.

In fact, he relished it.

“Oh, yeah,” he said before a recent practice. “In middle school I was sort of that guy in eighth grade, but I wasn’t as good. But this year I was kind of excited for it and I have enjoyed it.”

The 17-year-old Cranmer, though, said it hasn’t just been him leading the Cougars (7-9, 4-4 East Central 2-A Conference), adding that other seniors have done a good job, too.

But ask Croatan coach Kirk McDougle and he will tell you that Cranmer has been a big leader and done the job worthy of being a team captain.

“Kyle is a steady, to-the-point leader,” McDougle said. “If you are doing something wrong, he doesn’t sugarcoat it. He won’t scream and yell at you, but he will tell you what you are doing. He also leads by example.”

Cranmer’s statistics will certainly show that he’s doing the latter entering Croatan’s ECC game at Southwest (13-2, 7-1) tonight.

The 5-foot-11 point guard leads the Cougars in scoring with 17.1 points per game to go along with a team-best 6.2 assists and 2.6 steals per game. He’s also third on the team with 6.8 rebounds.

Talk about an all-around player.

“I’m doing what I need to do for my team,” Cranmer said. “I’ve scored a lot more than I did last year because last year I needed to pass more. Now, I’m rebounding more and getting steals and assists.”

Cranmer’s multi-dimensional play was put on display Friday during the Cougars’ 64-60 victory over East Duplin. He had 21 points, nine assists, nine steals and seven rebounds.

And while happy with his overall play, Cranmer, who is also a three-year varsity baseball player, said one stat in particular gives him the most pride: his assists.

“Definitely the assists,” said Cranmer, adding he has improved his ball handling this year. “I take pride in passing the ball and I just love seeing my teammates score. I would take that any day over scoring 28 points a game. If you see someone scoring 28 points a game and having one assist, he’s a great scorer, but he didn’t pass to his teammates.”

Cranmer’s best game, assist-wise, came when he had 10 on Jan. 7 in a 86-70 win over Dixon. He has not had a game where he didn’t have at least four.

He is the area’s assist leader.

“Kyle has great vision,” McDougle said. “Early in his career, he tried forcing a lot of those passes, and, at that level, guys were not prepared for them. Now they are used to it.”

But Cranmer doesn’t just pass well, he also scores well.

He has 13 games scoring at least 16 points with his best effort coming when he scored 25 points on Dec. 19 in a 57-47 win over Swansboro.

“I’m just being more aggressive,” Cranmer said. “Last year I didn’t take as many shots as I have this year. Last year I took more 3-pointers, but I’m definitely attacking the basket more and getting to the free throw line.

For the record, 33.5 percent of Cranmer’s scoring has come from the line.

Simply put, Cranmer has been a multi-faceted player since the start of the season, McDougle said.

“This fall, Kyle and Nick Touchton, they were out there busting their butts and they were a big reason why the cross-country team was so successful,” the coach said. “That translated into the basketball season. Where other guys had football legs still, they were going 100 miles per hour and not getting tired. They worked hard.”

And Cranmer said he will continue to work hard, despite Croatan owning just seven wins. He feels the Cougars can be dangerous in the final games and next week in the conference tournament.

“I think we can for sure,” Cranmer said. “It will take teamwork and getting everyone to score.”